Container feeding machine



May 4, 1965 J. B. WEST ETAL 3,181,723

cormnmn FEEDING momma: Filed July 10, 1963 s Sheets-Sheet 1 JOHN 8. WEST WILLIAM R. WILLS ATTORNEY May 4, 1965 J. B. WEST ETAL CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 10, 1963 INVENTORS JOHN B. WEST WILLIAM R. WILLS BYW [Oz/0mm,

ATTORNEY May 4, 1965 J. B. WEST ETAL CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 10, 1963 JOHN B. WEST WILLIAM R. WILLS My fifi ATTORNEY 1 1965 J. B. WEST ET AL 3,181,728

CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1965 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. l2.

II F" 1 i i L INVENTORS JOHN B. WEST 65 WILLIAM R. WILLS ATTORNEY May 4, 1965 J. B. WEST ETAL couunmn FEEDING momma 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed July 10, 1963 FIG. l3.

WILLIAM ,R. WILLS 42%;

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,181,728 CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE John B. West and William R. Wills, Baltimore, Md, assignors to Maryland Cup Corporation, Swings Miiis, Maryland, a corporation of Marylmd Filed July 10, 1963, Ser. No. 294,989 4 Claims. (Cl. 221221) This invention relates to feeding machines and it is more particularly concerned with machines for feeding containers of various kinds from a stack of nested containers, such as paper and plastic cups and tubs, ice cream cones, etc.

An object of the invention is the provision of a feeding machine of the type mentioned which supports a stack of nested containers and discharges them one by one on cyclic actuation of an operating member.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a machine which is adapted for use in conjunction with filling machines that dispenses materials of various kinds, such as food, into the containers.

A further object is the provision or" means for cyclically supporting and releasing a stack of nested containers at the bottom thereof in combination with cyclic means cooperating therewith to alternately grip and release the penultimate container of the stack, thereby permitting the lowermost container to fall away and be separated from the stack.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of means for cyclically supporting and releasing a stack of nested containers at the bottom thereof in combination with cyclic means coacting therewith to alternately grip and release the penultimate container of the stack and for exerting a positive force downwardly against the lowermost container when the penultimate container is gripped so as to insure separation of the lowermost container from the rest of the stack.

A still further object is the provision of a container feeding machine which is long wearing and adapted for prolonged periods of continuous use as a manufacturing facility.

These and still further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the description which follows hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly broken away, of an embodiment of the invention especially adapted for ice cream cones, attached to a filling machine, the latter being shown fragmentarily.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the same embodiment and a fragmentary portion of the filling machine to which it is attached.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view along the line 4- t of FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a plan sectional view along the line 66 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 7 is a plan sectional view along the line 77 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view with parts broken away to expose the relative position of parts at one phase in the cycle of operations.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing the relative positions of the parts at a different phase in the cycle of operations. I

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8 at a further phase in the cycle of operation.

FIG. 11 is an exploded view in perspective of certain parts of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view along the line 12l2 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a perspective View of the embodiment, partly broken away.

Referring to the drawing with more particularity, the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 10 is illustrated in reference to a container filling machine 21 having a rotatably mounted horizontal loading wheel 22 which is provided with apertures 23 for receiving the containers to be filled. The filling machine alone, however, forms no part of the present invention.

A stationary wall 24 of the filling machine adjacent the wheel 22 is provided with a mounting bracket 25 having a vertical slot 26 opposite the space between a consecutive pair of the apertures 23 when the loading wheel is in its stationary or resting phases between intermittent rotational movements. The location of the slot 26 is in advance of the filling station (not shown) of the filling machine or of the initial filling station if there are more than one, such as where a plurality of materials are to be loaded into each container successively.

The frame 27 of the embodiment is provided with a lug 23 at the rear side complementary to the slot 26. The lug 28 is locked to the bracket 25 by means of one or more bolts 29.

The device, when so mounted, extends outwardly from the wall 24 over the loading wheel 22 and comprises a pair of vertical openings 30, 3t) which are normally aligned with a pair of the apertures 23, 23 of the loading wheel when the wheel is in the resting phase of its cycle of operation. These openings 30, 30 comprise passageways through which the containers pass frorn a pair of nested stacks of containers 31, 31.

These containers in'the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 10 comprise conventional pastry ice cream conesrand they are supported in the form of nested stacks by means of a group of vertical guide rods 32 set about openings 38 in the frame 27.

The stacks of containers are each intermittently supon either side to fit and slidably engagethe members 34 and 35, respectively.

The position of the block 38 is adjustable. by means of a vertical adjusting screw 41 which passes through an aperture 42 in the bar 36 and is threadedly engaged with a threaded aperture 38A of the block. countersunk to provide a hollow enlarged portion 43 above the bar 36 surrounding the screw 41 in order to receive a shoulder nut 44 on the screw and a coil spring 45 between the nut and the top of the bar 36. V

The lower end of the screw 41 has a knurled head 46 and a spacer nut 47 between this head and the bottom of bar 36. Thus, by rotating the screw, the position of the block can be changed vertically while maintaining a.

constanttension between the block and the bar with the spring 45.

The slide block comprises an outwardly extending jaw 48 which is shaped to form an arcuate shoulder 49 facing upwardly and outwardly for engaging the adjacent sloping side of the lowermost ice cream cone 5t! of the stack when the arms 33 are in their closest position to each other. (See FIG. 8.) The arms are pivoted attheir upper ends to the base member by means of pintles 51, 51

The block is.

and are biased outwardly by means of tensioned coil springs 52 mounted on the pintles having in each case one of their ends 53 bearing against a stationary member 54, and their other ends 55 bearing against the respective arms to urge the arms to rotate on their pintles to the outward positions.

The stacks above the lowermost receptacles are each alternatively supported by a second pair of vertical arms 56, 56 which are hingedly mounted on the same pintles 51 between the side members 35 and 35, and are biased inwardly by similar coil springs 57. The lower ends of these arms each have horizontal portions which are bifurcated to provide a pair of spaced fingers 58 and 553. The fingers are adapted in their innermost positions to contact opposite walls of the penultimate cone of the stack.

Between each pair of fingers 58 and 59 there is disposed a horizontal flange 645 of a vertical bar 61. The bars 61 are adapted to reciprocate vertically when the fingers are engaging the walls of the penultimate cone of the stack. By means of this reciprocating motion, the flanges 60 move downwardly and contact the rim of the lowermost cone of the stack and urge it to disengage from the stack, if it has not already been disengaged under the force of gravity alone, thereby insuring a positive feeding action of a cone on each cycle of operation. (See FIG. 10.) To eiiect this reciprocating motion, the vertical bars 61 are disposed on the inner sides of their respective arms 56 and are attached by bolts 62 and 63 to bosses 64 of camming blocks 65. The bosses 64 each project through a vertical slot 66 of each arm 56 and an offsetting shim 67 is interposed between it and the bar 61.

The camming blocks 65 are each provided with a camming slot 68 through which a rod 69 extends transversely.

The camming blocks 65 are hollow and they are each provided on the interior with a cup 76 that bears against the top of the corresponding camming rod 69 under the action of a coil spring 71 on the interior of the cup, the upper end of the spring bearing against upper wall 72 of the block 65. By these means the blocks 65 are each constantly urged upward relative to its respective camming rod 69. This, however, is limited by an abutment 73 integral with and projecting outwardly from the arm 56 over the wall 72. Thus, as the rods move downwardly in the camming slots 68 the blocks are maintained in their uppermost positions against the abutments 73 under the force of the springs 71 until the rods reach the bottom of the camming slots whereupon they force the blocks downward and carry with them the bars 61. In moving downward, the rods 69 in the camming slots force the arms 56 inwardly due to the slope of the inner edges of the slots.

The camming rods 69 are mounted on and secured by set screws 74 to a vertical carrier block 75. A bar 76 is secured to the block 75 by bolts 77. The inner end 78 of the bar 76 is adapted to abut the flange 79 of a powered reciprocating shaft 80 of the filling machine. The other end of the bar 76 extends outwardly and is provided with a knob 82 for manually manipulating it, such as may be necessary in engaging and disengaging the opposite end with the flange 79. Vertical guide rods 83 and 84 have their lower ends set in sockets 85 and 86 and they are held therein by set screws 87 and 88. The upper end of these guide rods are slidably disposed in vertical sleeves 89 and 90 of an upper stationary block 91 that is secured to the frame structure 27 of the device by means of bolts 92.

In operation, as the bar 76 is reciprocated vertically by the powered shaft 80 it carries with it the block 75 which supports the camming rods 69. In the uppermost position of the block 75 the camming rods are at the upper ends of the camming slots 68. In this position of the block, the camming rods are also in contact with offset shoulders 93 of the arms 33, thereby forcing the arms to their innermost positions against the action of the springs 4;. 52, as shown in FIG. 8. In this position, too, the vertical bars 61 can move to their outermost positions under the action of the springs 57. With the arms 33 in this in nermost position, the arcuate shoulders 49 can cooperatively engage the lowermost cone of the stack and thus support the entire stack, while the fingers 58 and 59 are free of contact with any cone of the stack.

As the bar 76 moves downwardly, it carries with it the block 75 and camming rods 69. The downward movement of these camming rods in the slots 68 forces the camming blocks 65 inwardly, carrying with them the vertical arms 56 and the fingers 58 and 59. The camming rods, in moving from their uppermost positions to their lowermost positions, first reach intermediate positions at the bottom of the camming slots 68 (see FIG. 9) and the fingers 53 and 59 engage the sides of the penultimate cone of the stack. As the camming rods continue to move downwardly they bear against'the camming blocks at the bottom of the slots 68 and thereby force the blocks downwardly. As these camming blocks move downwardly they carry with them the stripping fingers which are attached to the camming blocks and cause them to engage the upper rim edge of the lowermost cone of the stack. This engagement causes the cone to become disengaged from the stack, if it has not already become disengaged under the force of gravity. In their lowermost positions, the camming rods ride under the shoulders 93, thereby permitting the arms 33 to spread apart under the action of the springs 52 and clear a path for the disengaged cone to fall through to the loading wheel 22 as shown in FIG. 10.

On the upward movement of the camming rods, the shoulders 93 are re-engaged to bring the arms 33 to their innermost positions and the fingers 58 and 59 are re tracted thereby permitting the stack to fall incremently and be supported again by engagement of the lowermost cone with the shoulders 49, whereupon the cycle of operation is repeated.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A container feeding device comprising a stationary member having a vertical aperture for the disposition and passage of a nested stack of the containers therethrough, vertical arms hinged to the stationary member for oscillating movement in a vertical plane on opposite sides of the aperture, jaws carried by a first pair of said arms for engaging the bottom container of a nested stack of the containers extending through the aperture, means for oscillating said arms, the said first pair of arms being coordinated with each other to alternately support and release the stack, jaws carried by a second pair of said arms coordinated with the movement of the said first pair of arms for alternately grasping and supporting the penultimate container of the stack when the said first pair of arms are in their released position and for releasing the grip of the penultimate container when the first pair of arms are in stack-supporting position and stripping means slidably attached to the said second pair of arms for exerting a downward force against the bottom container of the stack when the said first pair of arms are in the released position and the penultimate container is supported by said second pair of arms.

2. A container feeding device comprising a stationary member having a vertical aperture for the disposition and passage of a nested stack of the containers therethrough; a first pair of arms hinged to the member on opposite sides of the aperture; jaws carried by said arms for engaging the bottom container of a nested stack of containers extending through the aperture; a second pair of arms hinged to the member on opposite sides of the stack having jaws for engaging the sides of the penultimate container of the stack projecting above the bottom container; first resiliently yieldable means urging the said first pair of arms outwardly to positions clear of the containers; second resiliently yieldable means urging the said second pair of arms inwardly; means for moving said first arms inwardly to cause the jaws thereof to engage the bottom container of the stack against the action of said first resiliently yieldable means while holding the second pair of arms clear of the stack against the action of the said second resiliently yieldable means and for releasing the said first pair of arms under the action of the first resiliently yieldable means to cause the jaws thereof to engage the said penultimate container with the said second pair of arms and disengage the said first pair of arms from the stack; stripping means slidably attached to the said second pair of arms for exerting a downward force against the bottom container of the stack when the said first pair of arms are in the. released position and the penultimate container is supported by said second pair of arms; said moving means comprising members movable in paths adjacent to said arms, and blocks slidably attached to the said second arms, said blocks having camming surfaces thereon for engaging said members.

3. A container feeding device as defined by claim 2 in which the said movable members comprise rods and the blocks have slots in which said rods are disposed, said slots being shaped to form the said camrning surfaces.

4. A container feeding device as defined by claim 3 in which the blocks are slidably mounted for longitudinal reciprocal movement on the said second pair of arms,

resiliently yieldable means urging said blocks to an uppermost position on the said second pair of arms, abutments carried by the second; pair of arms for'conta'cting the blocks and limiting their upper positions, said stripping means comprising fingers carried by the blocks for con tacting the rim of the bottom container of the stack and moving it downwardly relative to the penultimate container when the said second pair of arms are engaged with the penultimate container, the pathof travel of the rods References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,963,621 6/34 Geyer 221- 221 2,419,351 4/47 Glassner 2.21-2.97 2,974,828 3/61 Matteson 221 221 3,083,868

RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Primary Examiner..

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Examiner.

' 4/63' Mueller f 221 221' 

1. A CONTAINER FEEDING DEVICE COMPRISING A STATIONARY MEMBER HAVING A VERTICAL APERTURE FOR THE DISPOSITION AND PASSAGE OF A NESTED STACK OF THE CONTAINERS THERETHROUGH, VERTICAL ARMS HINGED TO THE STATIONARY MEMBER FOR OSCILLATING MOVEMENT IN A VERTICAL PLANE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE APERTURE, JAWS CARRIED BY A FIRST PAIR OF SAID ARMS FOR ENGAGING THE BOTTOM CONTAINER OF A NESTED STACK OF THE CONTAINERS EXTENDING THROUGH THE APERTURE, MEANS FOR OSCILLATING SAID ARMS, THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF ARMS BEING COORDINATED WITH EACH OTHER TO ALTERNATELY SUPPORT AND RELEASE THE STACK, JAWS CARRIED BY A SECOND PAIR OF SAID ARMS COORDINATED WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF ARMS FOR ALTERNATELY GRASPING AND SUPPORTING THE PENULTIMATE CONTAINER OF THE STACK WHEN THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF ARMS ARE IN THEIR RELEASED POSITION AND FOR RELEASING THE GRIP OF THE PENULTIMATE CONTAINER WHEN THE FIRST PAIR OF ARMS ARE IN STACK-SUPPORTING POSITION AN STRIPPING MEANS SLID- 